Happy, Healthy Children with Homeopathy

Happy, healthy children – isn’t that what every parent wants? When I was pregnant with my first child, I became keenly aware of the environment around me and felt a strong need to protect a world that was not only safe, but where it would be easy to raise happy, healthy children. I had already had homeopathy training, so I felt assured knowing I had studied a medicine that not only worked well for infants and children, but also helped a growing body become stronger and more resilient without negatively impacting the planet.

Since then, I’ve come to work with many parents who feel the same way. Not only do the homeopathic medicines work quickly for acute short term illnesses, they also help resolve recurring or tricky childhood illnesses as they develop. The remedies are easy to give since children like the taste and infants can be given remedies dissolved in a little water. Some of the most dramatic health improvements I’ve seen in my practice come from supporting children’s health with homeopathy both in acute and chronic situations.

Homeopathy for acute, short term illnesses 

For short term illnesses, such as earaches, colic, colds, and coughs, parents will often see changes within hours of giving a well selected homeopathic medicine – not because it’s a painkiller or a decongestant, but because it’s reminding the body how to heal itself and triggering a self healing response. How reassuring when a couple of doses of Ipecacuana 30ch from a home remedy kit resolves a bout of vomiting or Pulsatilla 30ch settles a lingering cold in a clingy child.  I’ve seen Chamomilla 30ch soothe a screaming infant with intense colic pain, so the child – and the parents – get a little more sleep. I’ve also seen intensely painful earaches triggered by exposure to cold resolve before they worsen with a dose or two of Hepar sulph 30ch. Whooping cough is a frightening disease in children, but when it travels through a daycare or school, what a relief when the symptoms soften and resolve with the help of homeopathy. With acute short term illnesses, if you give the homeopathy early on, you can often help the body recover before it gets full blown – once in the midst of a cold, cough or flu, it can take a little longer for the body to set itself right, but still in less time and with less suffering than without the homeopathy.

Homeopathy for chronic, long term illnesses

Not all the dramatic improvements are reserved for acutes. A case of a child’s alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease where the hair falls out in patches, went into full remission when a well selected remedy acted, and has continued to work when the problem returned. While autoimmune diseases can be tricky and this was just one case, it’s a memorable one. Also, think of homeopathy for chronic or constitutional problems that happen in children when other types of treatment are not effective, for instance for bedwetting, or recurring and irrational fears or nightmares that have developed because of a stressful event – with the added bonus that there aren’t any side effects. Children with restlessness or distractibility often respond well to homeopathy too, whether they are teenagers or young children. In fact some of the best research on homeopathy is on ADHD and homeopathy, published by a medical physician/homeopath in Switzerland, Dr. Heiner Frei. For clarification on that research, you can check out his website.

The benefits: what homeopathy can do for your child

1. Homeopathy can help resolve symptoms fast – especially in acute illnesses, like colds, flus, fever, earaches etc,  when parents will often see improvements within hours – and for many chronic problems, changes will begin to be seen within a week or two, depending on the child and the problem.
2. With remedies, you can’t overdose children in terms of toxicity – if you give them the wrong remedy or a dose too much just stop and the body will set itself right, as there are no toxic elements in the homeopathic medicines – rather, it’s triggering the body to self-heal.
3. Know that you’re supporting the body’s own healing – often the child will be stronger and healthier with a well selected remedy. Homeopaths and parents often notcie that the child’s development makes a leap forward after an acute problem has been treated with homeopathy.
4. Homeopathy can be used alongside conventional medicine – it doesn’t conflict with medications such as Tylenol during a fever, for instance, and can be safely be given before or after surgery.
5. Children like the taste and for infants you can dissolve in a little water.
6. Less is more – homeopathic medicines are adjusted depending on what is needed in the moment, and as symptoms resolve, give less of the remedies and eventually stop. The whole point is to help the body recover, so less is more.
7. It’s inexpensive: one remedy vial is not only inexpensive to purchase, but lasts for many doses.

What homeopathy isn’t

1. There is no quick fix – you have a diagnosis and want something quick? Unfortunately, that’s not possible. In homeopathy, every medicine is personalized to the unique symptoms your child experiences and not by the disease itself. Even if your child has a fever, has nightmares or is bedwetting, we still need to go through the process of assessment to find the best possible fit. If it doesn’t fit, it won’t work.
2. Homeopathy is unlike any other type of medicine, so it does require follow up. Because each remedy is unique to the child and not the disease, it’s important for your homeopath to understand exactly how the remedy worked – what is better and what is the same. If the remedies failed to work as expected, then it’s time to go over the symptoms again to see what we missed because we definitely missed something – or if the remedies worked like a charm, we’ll need to take note for next time.
3. It is not automatic or routine – like a Tylenol for a pain. If a homeopathic medicine worked before, it might work again and it might not. Because each situation is unique, even if your symptoms feel the same, sometimes there are subtle differences that suggest a change in medicine. It’s always best to reassess to know which remedy is the best fit for the current situation. Once we begin to see a pattern, then we can teach you how to use what remedies in which situation.
4. Homeopathy isn’t a replacement for a conventional medical diagnosis. We still want you to see your doctor. Homeopaths specialize in selecting the best fitting medicine, not in the disease process, so it’s a perfect complement to conventional medicine.
5. It also is not a replacement for healthy habits. Good food, ample sleep and regular exercise is the foundation for all health so your homeopath may make some suggestions regarding healthy habits alongside the homeopathic remedy.

If you’re new to homeopathy, know that it is exceptionally safe, tastes great and just needs a bit of sleuthing to find a great fit.